BUGSZILLA!
by Joe Ekaitis
Summary: Terror rises from the carrot patch as BUGSZILLA embarks on a black-and-white rampage through Tokyo! Features Elmer Fudd in Raymond Burr's original role as reporter Steve Martin.


# "BUGSZILLA"

_**by **_[_**Joe Ekaitis**_][1]_**  
  
**__(not affiliated with Warner Bros.)_

  
"BUGSZILLA" is one of several short parodies in a half-hour TV special called "A Looney Night at the Movies". The special consists of trailers for classic and recent movies, recast with Looney Tunes characters.  
Filmed in black and white, "BUGSZILLA" features Bugs Bunny in the title role as the King of the Monsters with Elmer Fudd recreating Raymond Burr's role as American reporter Steve Martin. Not only is Bugszilla 300 feet tall but when he's attacked by a squadron of tanks, he incinerates them with a carrot-colored blast of his fiery breath, the only part of the vignette that IS in color.  
The trailer begins with evidence of Bugszilla's existence. Porky Pig, in a naval military uniform and Elmer Fudd are watching as several investigators examine the beached wreckage of a huge cargo ship. "It-it-it's the Kobayashi Maroon" says Porky, his voice completely out of sync with his mouth. "So, what was she hauling?" asks Elmer. "Ju-ju-ju-just lettuce and carrots" replies Porky. Elmer shakes his head in amazement. "It must have been some storm to beach a ship this big and bweak it apart like that" he comments. Porky turns dramatically toward Elmer. "Th-the-the-there was no storm last night" says Porky.  
The scene changes to the mangled ruins of a vegetable cannery. While doctors and nurses tend to the injured workers, Elmer and Wile E. Coyote, who's dressed in a police officer's uniform, are surveying the damage. "Was it a bomb?" asks Elmer. "An expwosion of some kind?" Wile E. stares blankly at the scene. "No" he replies, also out of sync. "This building was attacked from the outside." "By WHAT?!" demands Elmer. One of the bandaged workers, a rabbit, is nibbling on a carrot. Wile E. walks over to him with his eyes fixed on the carrot as Elmer follows. Wile E. snatches the carrot from the rabbit and holds it up. The focus changes from the incisor bite marks on the carrot to a pair of gouges in the sheet metal wall of the cannery in the distance. Both exhibit a striking similarity.  
A long helicopter shot swoops along a trail of giant wabbit footprints that pass through the destroyed buildings and scarred earth of what was once a lettuce farm. The stunned farmer (Foghorn Leghorn in coveralls) wanders aimlessly among the debris. He can chant only one coherent word (out of sync with the movement of his beak, of course): "Bugszilla. . .BUGSZILLA. . .**BUGSZILLA!**"  
Finally, the monster makes his appearance. The ground beneath a carrot patch begins to bulge and splits open. A giant white-gloved hand emerges and lands squarely on the farmhouse, crushing it like a paper cup. Two huge ears rise from the hole and in a wider shot, the 300 foot terror rises from the carrot patch and emits Godzilla's trademark roar. A series of clips show Bugszilla's rampage through downtown Tokyo, including his frying of the aforementioned tank squadron. All of this is being witnessed by reporter Steve Martin (Fudd), who is recording what might be his last living words. As he utters the line made memorable by Raymond Burr (see poster), the building he's in begins to collapse around him. The scene suddenly cuts to black and all we can hear is Bugszilla's, er, Godzilla's roar as the words "BUGSZILLA: King of the Monsters" appear on the screen.  
Other movie parodies in "A Looney Night at the Movies" would include "Gone with the Breeze", with Bugs Bunny as Scarlett O'Hara and Elmer Fudd as Rhett Butler, who delivers the movie's most memorable line in response to Scarlett's plea "Where shall I go?! What shall I do?!": "Fwankwy, my dear, I don't give a damn." "Hey, Tootsy!", a parody of "Tootsie" features Daffy Duck in the dual roles of out-of-work actor Mickey Dougherty and his successful alter-ego-in-drag Dottie Michelson with Elmer Fudd as his agent who advises him "You're too much twouble, Mickey. Get some thewapy." "2002: an odyssey in space" stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as Jupiter mission astronauts Frank Pull and Dave Boughman with the voice of Wile E. Coyote as the HAK 8000 computer. "A Couple of Odd Guys" pairs slob sportscaster Oscar (Bugs Bunny looking a little rough around the edges) with compulsive neatnick photographer Felix (Wile E. Coyote without his usual ragged appearance).

[][2]

[Looney Tunes Larger Than Life!][2]

   [1]: mailto:JoeEkaitis@anthro-animal-art.com
   [2]: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JoeEkaitis/looney.htm



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